This Game Will End Us
by petrichorblue
Summary: When child-protegee Haruno Sakura is assigned to team 7 as an undercover help to her mentor Hatake Kakashi, she refuses, despite the obvious advantages. Only the payment that would ensure the girl her dream house before she hits adulthood make it seem worth it. But as she plays the part of the last Uchiha's mindless fangirl, she unexpectedly falls in love. Slow build NaruSaku.
1. Sakura's Mission, part one

"Hokage-sama," she greeted as she quietly entered the room. "You've requested my presence."

"Ah, Haruno," the old man stood up as he saw her. "Yes, I've a rather important assignment for you. You may remove your mask." She complied. "You know of Uzumaki Naruto, yes?"

She nodded. "He's in the Academy. Before I began my accelerated training I knew him – he was in my year."

"And what do you know of his condition?"

Now she was confused. She had never really given much thought on the blond genin. "His condition? Has he taken ill?"

The Hokage laughed dryly. "No, no – he's healthy as a horse. That, at least." Sakura noticed the badly disguised affection in her superior's voice. "He's the junchuriki of the nine-tailed fox." Wow. "His father, the Yondaime, traded his own life to seal the monster inside him." _Wow_. "There's been a taboo on this subject though and the younger generation knows nothing about it. I'm afraid the boy has grown rather isolated and hated nevertheless, because even if the children don't know why, their parents hate him." Ah. She almost would have counted as one of those children, except she began her training early in life and was too busy to care about social prejudices and 'who do we hate now'.

"So what do you want me to do?"

The Third sighed, as if he was carrying some enormous weight on his shoulders. "The children of Konoha might not know the truth behind the boy but others have already figured out the power inside of him and what it stands for… There have already been several attempts on the boy's life and not only as an act of vengeance but as a means to extract the beast from him, which would also, ultimately, kill him. All stopped by the ANBU."

She was already figuring out what her mission would be. "You want me to guard him?" Sakura asked.

"No," the Hokage laughed. "It's a bit more complicated: I want you to enter Team 7 as a genin and see that no nation tries to take either the jinchuriki or the Kyuubi from Konoha."

This was just a bit over the edge. "What?!" she nearly yelled. "You want me to pretend to be a genin?" She, Haruno Sakura, protégée of Hatake Kakashi, ANBU at the age of twelve… and her first mission was… this?

"Hokage-sama," she began awkwardly. "I'm not sure Kakashi…"

"Hatake already knows of your mission and, in fact, he quite easily gave me his virtual blessing on this assignment." Well. That last bit was a shock.

"…He does?" Did Kakashi really hate her that much?

"Yes," the Hokage confirmed. "Especially after he learned that he's to be the sensei of the team Naruto is in. I think he's actually terrified of teaching the prankster of Konoha _and_ the last Uchiha."

"Uchiha Sasuke will also be in the team?" Sakura asked faintly.

"Yes."

"Oh, my."

"Indeed."

"Why would you do this to Kakashi?" she asked boldly.

"Because he's the only one capable of handling either of them." A pause. "Do you accept the mission?"

"No."

The Third looked down towards the piles of paperwork on his desk. "Hatake told me you might not take this well. You'll miss many adventures…"

"I'd rather take my chances."

"The payment's really good." Ah, _now_ he was speaking.

"…How good?" He told her. She raised an eyebrow.

"And if unexpected complications happen along the way, you'll get twice as many."

Money; her best friend and mentor, the brilliant Kakashi there all the time; an easy job – if a bit too easy…

"Wait. What's my story? How's a jounin-rank shinobi in a team of mere genin?" she asked, mentally congratulating herself on how quickly she caught the giveaway.

The Third smiled. "Seeing that during your two year training you were so rarely seen in public, and became a bit of a hermit-"

"Hey, I have Kakashi!" she interjected.

"A hermit with one friend," the Hokage amended.

"Yes, actually it's quite fun – we meet occasionally and swap stories about our caves…"

"Focus, Sakura!" Alright, alright! But her lip gloss really needed to be fixated again… Poor Sakura, why did she always end up with lip glosses that turn out to not be permanent? "_Anyway_," the Third began again, a bit too harshly. "Seeing as you were so rarely seen in public, it won't be hard to fabricate a story. Your clan had been threatened by enemies from another village and you were home-schooled, after that you passed the genin test. It's all been arranged with Iruka-sensei."

"What about my chakra?" Sakura persisted. "Anyone with half a wit can tell I'm not a genin."

Here the Hokage scratched the back of his neck and laughed awkwardly. "Well, there's that." Sakura waited, patiently. "You'll have to wear a chakra-decreasing patch. Only to be removed in cases of extreme emergency."

Sakura forced her eye to stop twitching. "I'll take it," she said finally. "I'll take the mission."

"Are you sure?"

"Practically bribed me into accepting it – _now_ you're asking if I'm sure?"

"Yes, but you have to know that it won't be as easy as it sounds. I wouldn't have asked a second ANBU to aid _Hatake Kakashi_ if it wasn't a potentially S-Ranked mission. This is the Kyuubi we're talking about."

Sakura, who had been merely half an year old infant during the infamous attack, did not feel to shaken. "It's sealed inside the jinchuriki, isn't it?" she said with a shrug.

"Well- yes."

"I'll take the mission, Hokage-sama," she said again. How could she not? She'd be able to buy her own house before she turned sixteen.

The Hokage smiled, not caring if her reasons were selfish, and signed one of the documents on his desk. "Then all is good."

"Is that all?"  
"Yes, you may leave."

Sakura turned to go, mentally calculating in how much time she'd be able to buy a new TV, when she remembered something. The kunoichi turned back. "Hokage-sama."

"Yes?" the man said, not looking up from his paperwork. It really was enormous, even if he seemed to put everything in some bizarre order.

"Does Naruto know?"

"Know what?"

"Of the monster sealed inside of him."

"I've told you," the Third said. "There's a taboo on this. No one his age knows, not even him." Sakura felt a shiver run through her as the man sighed. "Do try to be friendly with him, Sakura, no matter how much you've been taught to hate him, he's been through a lot…" But he noticed that Sakura had already gone.

* * *

"Kakashi, you look so thin! Have you not been eating regularly again?"

"Mebuki-san," Kakashi said, crinkling his one visible eyes, as Sakura's mother was _mothering_ him for the umpteenth time.

"Why, this is unacceptable! You _must_ try my home-made miso soup with eggplant!"

Kakashi licked his lips beneath the mask. "Ah, I wouldn't want to intrude…"

"Nonsense," it was Sakura who said this as she entered the house and quickly slipped away from her shoes. "You will stay, _sensei_ dearest, and you will tell me more about the mission where I have to pretend to be a genin."

"My sweet, strong Sakura-chan will have to pretend to be a genin?" Sakura's dad gasped, outraged. "For how long?"

"A few years at least," Kakashi replied with a miserable sigh – though doubtlessly for his end of the deal.

"What?!"

"Yes, father, but the payment's so good we'll be able to redecorate the house in a year."

"Hear, hear," Kakashi said with a winning smile that most unfortunately no one saw.

They sat on the table.

Kakashi, who frequently acted as her mentor, though even more often as her irritable, older brother, was actually secretly, unspokenly in love with her family and loved being mollycoddled by her mother. It all happened when she had once brought her team-mate over so they could discuss (mostly argue) about an upcoming assignment. Her mother and father instantly declared him the guardian-protector of their beloved daughter, though – seeing as Sakura was capable of taking care of herself, at least most of the time, and Kakashi didn't like kids too much even if they were smart and mature (though very short-tempered and pink) – they only pretended to be friends at first. Soon the young man was won over by the family and as Sakura grew on him because she started to remind him of himself at her age (and Kakashi was narcissistic as that), they became actual friends.

"At least we'll be together in this," she said optimistically. Kakashi nodded, looking very deep. "Oi, Kakashi!" the kunoichi chirped up suddenly, oddly cheerful. "You know I'll probably pretend to be weak and vain-"

"Oh, please don't." Kakashi blanched.

"And maybe I'll become a fangirl!"

"Of me or Naruto?"

"Of Sasuke Uchiha, of course! Haven't you seen all the hordes of fangirls he and his dark broodiness have? He's quite handsome as well, I already feel the love!"

"Sakura, for the love of Kami, please don't do this to me. I already have an unpredictable prankster slash jinchuriki and an emo kid with anger issues, I don't need an empty-headed little bimbo as well…"

"Well." Sakura smiled. "I have to act like a normal kid, don't I, Kakashi-sen-sei?"

Her guardian-protector-but-actually-spiritual-older-brother seemed dramatically horrified at the prospect. "What have I done in a past life? What? What?" he asked himself.

And so, it began...

"Oh, and Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"Don't be late tomorrow. Be on time for me, please, moral support and all…" But his words faded as she burst into laughter.

"Riiight, tell that to the other kids. Kakashi, aside for strategical purposes during a battle, you can't organize your time at all." He glared daggers and looked woefully at Mebuki, who took pity on him and handled him another bowl of soup.

* * *

**A/N**: _Found this draft in a long ago set aside notebook and decided to type it up on the tablet and see the reaction of the readers. I might continue it, if you like it._


	2. Sakura's Mission, part two

It all really began thirty five years ago when Tsukino Toshio was having a good day. He had sold many of the goods in his bakery and even the Hokage himself had bought a cake on his way home. Or at least his ANBU guards had bought it for him. When Tsukino Toshio went home, his wife, Utau, had made him a wonderful dinner and had cleaned the house so well it seemed sparkling. In his good humor, he found Utau especially pretty and later he made passionate love to her. It was the night his first child Haruo was conceived.

If the Hokage had not bought that cake as a treat after a stressful day, if Toshio had not went home so energized by the honor, if he had not made love to his wife, if Haruo was not conceived, his first (and only) child would have been Tsukino Mebuki .

As it is, she had an older brother (only one year older than her, as she frequently reminded him). Their paths in life weren't too different and they retrained a close sibling relationship. She became a kunoichi and he became an ANBU. Mebuki married to Haruno Kizashi and Haruo married a strong-headed civilian woman named Minako.

Tsukino Haruo was a charming man, he had many friends in the corps and while he was without the mask women fell on his feet. He was tall and lanky, green-eyed, hollow-cheeked and eccentric. He was often amused by his brother-in-law's eccentric hairstyle and even more often found a way to comment on it. Haruo was cunning, genius and ambitious. His children weren't as genius as him, although he trained them good and found them even better military positions. He had a son, Saito and a daughter - Mitsuki (she hated how the combination of her first and last name sounded and seriously wondered if her name was chosen so that she'd be encouraged to marry really young).

One day, when Haruo went to see his sister and her family, he casually said over a cup of tea:

"Mebuki, I was thinking the other day..."

"Oh?" she interrupted with rised brows as she lifted her cup to her lips. "I know this to be a rare occasion for you, nii-san."

"Now, now- no need to be sarcastic. You know I am the smart one-"

"Uncle!" a young Sakura greeted. She was four or five - maybe six - years old (he really needed to remember her birthday too... was it in the spring? the autumn?)

"When will you enroll her in the Academy, Mebuki? She _can_ control chakra, right?"

His sister nodded. "Yes, yes - of course she can. She even has a slightly better chakra control than her peers. Of course, she has already been enrolled in the Academy. She's been studying for an year already. "

"Oh, you're ambitious as always, Mebuki!" he remarked. He then turned to his niece. "Were you at school till now, Sakura-chan?"

"Yes, uncle," she said quietly. Haruo looked at the small girl - she was definitely not naturally quiet or introverted. Maybe she was bullied? Her eyes were bright and clever and spoke much more than her guarded voice- as if she expected someone to make fun of her every word and so, her words weren't many.

Well, then - now he really thought that his offer would be even more useful. "_So_," he began again. "Sakura-chan, as I was about to tell your mother - I have an proposition." Sakura regarded him with keen eyes. "Do you want an accelerated ninja training?" He had made both his children take it, he'd found them the best masters through his connections and it was only natural that he'd give his favorite sister's daughter the same chance ("I'm your _only_ sister, nii-san," Mebuki often replied).

"_Nii-san_!" she now exclaimed in surprise. "We'll have to talk to Kizashi-kun of course, but this is really most generous of you! What do you think, Sakura dear?"

The little girl was flustered. "Am I? Do you think me-? Would I be good enough, uncle?" She became even more flustered when he smiled. "I mean... I've no special talent. I'm not too smart. I-"

"This kind of thinking will have to stop, Sakura dear," Mebuki said and drank from her tea.

"Indeed," Kizashi said as he entered the room, having heard the last few sentences. He frowned in a hilarious fashion, his eyes squinting. "Although I don't know what we're talking about."

"Haruo here wants to enter Sakura in the accelerated training."

"Ah, that's wonderful." Kizashi was the kind of a man who was rarely surprised. One could tell him that the world would be attacked by a giant biscuit and the most he would say would be 'Oh my, can we do something about it?', so even-tempered was he. "Sakura, what do you think?"

"What do I... think?" the girl began and then proceeded to truly consider the offer- she didn't really have any friends in the Academy, although there was this blond girl, Ino, who appeared to be interested in making friends with her. She was bullied. And _this_ really was something. "Will I still go to school?" It would be lonely without school but at least she wouldn't be bullied.

Haruo made a funny grimace. "It would be extremely difficult for you to keep up with the studying if you waste your time there. And in two years, you'll be genin level. In three- chuunin..." He paused. "_Although_, you'll need to learn things such as geography and mathematics and philosophy. If you think you can manage it at home, then it would be good."

"Who'll be my sensei?" was his niece's next question, not so shy anymore. He liked her real voice - assertive - even as a child, strong, smart. There is always some way you can tell whether the person talking is simple-minded or not.

Haruo nodded to himself. "I'll talk with a few people. Maybe Hatake Kakashi, maybe Maito Guy or someone else. But before you take a sensei, you'll need to practice a bit. I'll help you out." He scratched his gold beard, and at that moment Sakura wondered how could a dark-haired man have a golden beard. Did he dye it? "Tell you what, if you accept the training, I'll teach you myself until you're ready for a true sensei. We could meet next weekend, but I want you to have read your whole textbook for year one until then... Now the question is, if your father gives his consent-" He turned to look at Kizashi who nodded. "Do you accept it? Training will be brutal and you'll go to bed tired and crying most of the time."

"But-" Sakura interrupted again. "I've no talent."

"Oh, Sakura dear, do shut it with that will you?"

"But-"

"With hard training, you can achieve everything. And indeed, don't say you've got no talent. How good's your score in the Academy?"

"A little above average so far," she mumbled.

Her uncle ruffled her pink hair. "There," he said. "A little above average is _not_ talentless."

_But __**why**__ - as in, what is the reason - do I have to go through the accelerated training? _Sakura wanted to ask, not yet understanding the concept of things such as family pride or megalomania. But her parents appeared to think this a very good opportunity so of course she'd take it...

Of course she took it. Naturally studious, she went to bed with the textbook, woke up with it in the morning. After the first few days when she had been lazy and it had been hard to concentrate on such large material, studying gave her a sense of purpose and fulfillment. She felt confident that at last she was gaining some control on something - knowledge. It felt good.

The first weekend, it was as if Sakura was not talking with her uncle - uncle Haruo had become some menacing professor who'd sharply yell at her when she was not answering correctly his questions. During practices, he'd become a bit calmer and she'd struggle to listen everything he was saying, lest he'd yell at her for having to repeat it again. In her fright, from that moment on, she studied even harder and developed a good memory.

After three months Uncle had told her he'd found her a sensei. A woman named Tanaka. Tanaka-sensei was short and curvy and kind and Sakura loved her. She always explained things in such a way that they seemed easy to understand and Sakura was shocked that she'd actually had such good luck with a teacher. Tanaka-sensei was sometimes busy with other missions to which she took Sakura with her. Thus, the girl had fought in battles a lot earlier than most of her peers.

Sakura began her ANBU training when she was ten. Her mentor there wasn't kind or curvy, he was Hatake Kakashi, who was grumpy and always late and famous in all of Konoha and generally the whole wide world. She actually liked him as a person, underneath all the grumpiness. Sakura was curious about the mask too but it would be only when she was eleven that she'd convince him to take it off and when he finally did she was surprised. Extremely surprised and confused. Because he didn't have anything shocking to hide - he wasn't hideous. He wasn't so handsome you'd cry (though the girl in the restaurant in which he took it off actually did it... well, to each their own, Sakura supposed).

The story of their friendship is already told, despite its bizarreness, the age difference, Kakashi's constant question towards the skies - 'Why me?', to which the skies (or uncle Haruo, as it was more often) replied that Kakashi owed him.

Now, returning to the present, Sakura was once again curious at her luck. She was walking through the Academy corridors which she hadn't seen in years. She was sufficiently late for Kakashi to actually have already arrived. Or to be half-way there at least. Sakura had not expected to meet him in the _corridors _as he ran up to her. "Kakashi-sensei," she greeted. Oh. God. She was suddenly nervous. Kakashi-_sensei_. It sounded awful. Like something alien. The mission suddenly seemed so real. She would waste _years_ of her life on this stupid mission. She'd actually do it.

"Yo," he greeted. A pause. "Sakura, the house," he reminded her, having sensed her nervousness.

Right. Dream house. Dream house with hedges and garden. Maybe Kakashi would be her neighbor. She'd flee from Konoha and kidnap him and they'd be neighbors and she'd marry some cool guy and she'd find Kakashi some gentle Yamato Nadeshiko. Said Nadeshiko would cure Kakashi of his apparent semi-asexuality and she'd become her best female friend and they'd exchange cooking recipes...

"Sakura," Kakashi said again. "Are you daydreaming about the neighboring thing again?"

Sakura looked away, innocently. Right. "Kakashi, can you tell me something more on the boys? I researched them last night but all I got was their stories, blood types and medical information."

Of course, she had asked this quietly and Kakashi replied in a similar manner. "They're both loners. They both want to prove themselves. I've guarded Naruto as an ANBU and he seems bright. Last night he was almost murdered by his teacher." _Wow_.

"Iruka-sensei?"

"No, Mizuki. The Hokage is thinking about executing him though it isn't decided yet. The guy manipulated Naruto into stealing a precious scroll for him, believing that this would get the boy executed for treason. When Iruka stepped in, he tried to kill them both."

"Well, in any case, showing too much sudden interest in Naruto would be suspicious," Sakura said. Then she smiled wickedly at her comrade. "Hey, Kakashi, when do you think is the right time to start fangirling over Sasuke?"

Kakashi returned her smile, awkwardly. "Sakura, I don't think this strategy is too good. Of course, it would be almost natural to 'fall in love' with him and start to worship him like half the population of the kiddie generation... hey, there's a rhyme here. Anyways. Sakura. Sasuke is at least as asexual as me, I've watched the guy. He needs a friend. He doesn't need a girlfriend. Well, you could try to be his girl friend, but don't be his girlfriend. Man, I don't feel eloquent enough for this shit. I need coffee. I need a vacation. Let's take your family and run to Suna. I'll meet my Nadeshiko and-"

Sakura laughed. "Kakashi. Okay. I'll only be mock fangirling him so that he'd understand. I might actually use another friend."

Kakashi nodded benevolently. "Naruto could use a friend too."

They were already nearing the door behind which her new team mates stood. "Alright. We can do this."

"Wait," Kakashi told her suddenly.

"What is it?"

"We can't enter together."

"Why?" Sakura asked irritably.

"I need coffee."

"_Kakashi_. You. Don't."

"Yes, I do. See you later."

And he was gone. Unbelievable. _Unbelievable_.

She entered the door. She regarded her two team-mates. One blond. The other dark. Obviously Sasuke was darkly sexy. Sasuke looked like... ANBU material. Like the boys and girls that had lost the light in their eyes during the training. Naruto on the other hand reminded her of ... she'd have to describe it poetically. He reminded her of the first spring wind after months of winter. His eyes weren't bottomless like Sasuke's, they were bright and curious.

"Ah, Sakura-chan! Long time no see! Why are you late? Why is the sensei late?"

She frowned. "Kh, what's with the 'chan', idiot? We barely know each other," she replied, choosing not to answer to the questions. Man, that sounded harsher than she had intended. But in her defence - she hadn't talked with 'kids' in years.

"Ah, sorry, sorry, Sakura-cha-" he stopped himself on time as he saw her glare. "Sakura," the blond boy amended with a smile.

She almost returned it.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun." Truth be told, she was being a bitch. "You look dazzling today."

"Annoying," the boy muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes in... annoyance.

Sakura smiled inwardly. "No, really, you look dashing. Like a prince. On a white horse. Although there's no horse around. I bet though there are many girls who'd let you ride them." Both Naruto and Sasuke spluttered.

"Hey, Sakura-ch... Sakura, what's this about?"

Oh, man, she couldn't really fangirl over Sasuke, she didn't possess the natural talent. _She_ didn't sound natural. She'd follow the Kakashi strategy. "Nothing, Naruto. I'm just mock-fangirling over him."

"You're... mock-fangirling?"

"Why yes, it's rather fun. Have you tried it, Sasuke?"

"To... mock-fangirl?"

Ohoh, maybe he'd actually have some hidden sense of humor. Well, well. "Well, now that you said it yourself..."

"Hey, Sakura-... " Naruto interrupted suddenly. "Sakura, how did you graduate from the Academy, you weren't here for years, Ino said you'd died or something..." _Who the fuck's Ino?_

Oh, yeah, the blonde, bitchy queen-bee of the Academy.

Sakura saw Sasuke perk up at Naruto's question with veiled curiosity. "Clan got threatened by enemies from another village. Got home-tutored by my uncle, he's a great shinobi."

"And who, pray tell, is -"

"Shhh, I can hear the sensei come," Naruto interrupted suddenly, annoying Sasuke to no end. Well, at least the Jinchuriki had a good enough hearing to notice shinobi steps. That'd probably save his life quite a few times. "And I'm trying to prank him," he said, wiggling his brows, as he moved to put an blackboard duster above the door so that when Kakashi came in, the duster would fall on his head.

"_No_," Sakura said resolutely.

"Oh, come on, Sakura! It'd be fun!" She remembered Kakashi's words - that the boy wanted to be noticed and for that he had become a prankster. His whole childhood was spend in people either ignoring him or insulting him, or so her ex-ANBU mentor told her last night while they were having tea before he went home. When she asked him why he hadn't done anything, Naruto being the son of Kakashi's sensei and all, the man said he had been afraid to face the responsibility... and then, when he felt some flicker of bravery he had suddenly been _too busy_ mentoring a certain pink-haired brat.

_No one should be forced to suffer like this boy. _Sakura thought suddenly as she watched Naruto laugh lamely, scratching the back of his neck- she looked into his eyes, as if diving into the depths and looking for the pain he had so well learned to mask. _No child deserves_ _it_. Naruto's laughter died as he, too, looked at her. And in that second, he _knew_. He _knew_.


	3. Sakura's Mission, part three

Sakura looked ahead dully, avoiding the piercing gaze.

"What's the matter, Forehead-_chan_?" Mikado taunted. "You crying over a little _stone_?" It hadn't been just a simple moonstone. It had been a _gift_. Her gaze landed on where it lay, discarded on the ground, smashed into dust and fine powder with one chakra-enhanced kick . "You won't make a very good ninja, then. Top it all, you have pink hair, anyone would know it's you . Ninjas are meant to be _unseen_. And they certainly aren't meant to _cwy_ over a lil' stone." Maybe he was being wise. She hated him never-the-less.

Sakura looked around the room, silently seeking help. The other boys and girls were looking at her with sheer maliciousness and she heard one of them whisper to the other that they'd gang up on her later and beat her. The pink-haired girl felt her heart in her throat, along with bile.

Then Mikado spat on her.

She stood up promptly. "_Oi_, where are you going?" Mikado said and started to follow after her as she hurried away from the classroom in quick steps. Where the hell was Iruka-sensei? "I said, you aren't going anywhere until I tell you to!" Mikado continued and caught her arm. Don't cry. Don't cry. Damn it, why were there tears in her frickin' eyes?

Sakura took a raspy breath-

- And she kicked him in the groin with all her strength she didn't know she possessed. Mikado clutched at his balls and bent over, his face blue-ish. She actually thought she had dealt a killing blow.

Don't cry. Don't you fucking dare cry anymore.

She ran for the door, ignoring (or wanting to ignore, at least) the whispers in the room.

On her way, she passed the blonde boy, Naruto Uzumaki, who wasn't one of the bullies but he hadn't said anything too. He didn't look at her or anyone, just stared ahead resolutely.

It broke her heart.

Sakura didn't stop running until she reached the forest near her home. Only then did she slow down and breathe in deeply. She could get over this.

Breathe. Breathe. Be brave.

This was the day Sakura vowed to never show anyone what she truly loved.

On her way home, thankful she had not been ganged up on after all, she stopped in front of a ninja store and entered.

She had heard about this product before. Ninjas on missions who couldn't dye their hair each few weeks used it. For instance, if the famous Hatake Kakashi wanted to go unnoticed on an infiltration mission, he had to buy himself this product. One couldn't risk people knowing this wasn't their natural hair-colour when they were posing as the daughter or son of a peculiarly haired person.

This dye would hold until you replaced it with another one that was your original hair color.

She bought the dye - a dark brown, and that night she used it.

* * *

The duster fell on Kakashi's head.

She could mentally hear him yell _'Die'_ at whoever was responsible.

"Well," he said, as he entered the room completely. "My name is Hatake Kakashi and my first impression on you guys is... I don't like you."

Sakura grimaced along with her new team-mates but truth be told, she didn't really like them too. Sakura had an aversion to pranks since her childhood when she'd been on the receiving end most of the time. Once, she had fancied a boy named Mikado and he used it on her. He came to her and put a hand on her back, sending a thrill of joy in her, asked her how her day was and then left, laughing with his friends. A sudden suspicion and she took off her vest to see it smeared with phlegm.

So as much as she pitied the reasons behind Naruto's attention-seeking eccentricities, she really didn't agree with them.

She'd have to be more cautious with the blonde though because as someone who was constantly targeted, she saw in his eyes that he was already suspicious of her. Or at least he saw something in her eyes that flickered some knowledge in him, but she was not certain as to what this knowledge was. The guy was smarter than she had previously thought and she wondered what happened during those last few years when she stopped keeping tabs on him.

"Haruno-san," Kakashi coughed. "You're not improving my opinion on your brightness while you space out like that." And he couldn't just stop himself from adding. "It makes me wonder what kind of houses in Suna you might be imagining in that little head of yours."

Sasuke and Naruto gaped. Well, Sasuke just rose an eyebrow but if her assumptions were correct, this was as close to 'What the hell!?' as he would ever get.

Sakura laughed innocently and scratched the back of her neck. "Ahah, ahah, ahahahaa... Nooo~, Kakashi-sensei, whatever might you be talking about?" And she 'patted' him on the chest. "I'm thinking about much more professional things than that, yeah."

Kakashi's eyes budged. Damn him. Damn him a thousandfold for teaching her Tsunade-hime's techniques. The jounin gulped and smiled his fake smile. His Noh smile, as he liked to call it. Let the people make whatever they want out of it, most of the times they just suited it to their own needs.

"Well, Haruno-san, guys, we must first introduce each other, don't you think?"

"But," Naruto said. "We already know each other's names, Kakashi-sensei."

"But a good teammate must know the likes and dislikes of his fellow teammates, their goals and hobbies. So as to avoid unintentional _irking the hell out of them_, don't you think?" he said.

"Why don't you introduce yourself first then?" Naruto asked.

"Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi." _Kneel before my mightiness_ - yes, Sakura could hear his thoughts. There comes a day when you simply know what your best friend is thinking. "I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes." Though he enjoyed flabbergasting people, was in love with Sakura's mother's miso soup and Yamato Nadeshikos though he'd bang you in the head if you insinuated the latter; disliked impractical people and ninja who put the mission before the teammates (a lesson he had installed well within Sakura herself). "As for my dream..." Oh, he was definitely not telling them about the house in Suna. "I have a few hobbies." Yes, _definitely_ not telling them about the smut novels.

"So all we got was your name?" Naruto said. "Man... I suppose it's my turn then. I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I love ramen. I dislike bullies." Here Sakura looked at him with surprise, but he was not looking at her. His eyes were the same as all those years ago: avoiding her. "My greatest dream is to become a Hokage and get people to acknowledge my existence."

Sakura thought. She noticed the way Kakashi's eyes widened slightly at those words too. _Nope, I'm not going to 'feel for him' no more_.

Kakashi arranged his features into his usual 'bored' composure that he delighted all the people he didn't care about with (meaning everyone who was not her, her family or Yamato-taichou... Oooh, Yamato-taichou... better not think about Yamato-taichou, lest she kidnap _him_ and run away with him to Suna... man, this man got her knickers in a twist... in the good way).

"Okay, next." Now the bored look was directed to her and she laughed innocently.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she said sweetly. "I like..." Oh, man why had she thought about Yamato-taichou... "And well, my hobby is..." Reading Kakashi's smut novels? No, no, she better think of something. These people hadn't seen her in years, she couldn't just be as mysterious as Kakashi. Two mysterious people in a group would be suspicious. "I like dark-haired, pale men who can control their emotions. My hobby is reading books. I dislike... I dislike pranksters and bullies." Naruto's eyes widened and for a brief moment their eyes met before he looked away.

"Okay, next?" Kakashi said. Sakura turned to look at Sasuke, smiling coquettishly at him.

Sasuke was doing his best 'intelligent cool guy' pose that really actually reminded her of someone who was pooping in the toilet and trying to estimate if there was enough toilet paper left. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a lot of things I hate. There aren't a lot of things I like," he said. _Oh, bunny. You must be a joy to be around._ "My dream is to kill... a certain someone." Most probably his brother Itachi who had been ordered slaughter his clan which had been about to begin a coup, and left only brooding-boy here alive.

Kakashi looked mildly unimpressed but Sakura could see the wheels turn in his mind. He'd be having a talk with the Third tonight, she just knew it.

"'Kay," Kakashi said, clasping his hands. "Now's time for the fun part. Mission!"

"...Mission?" Naruto asked. Sasuke was silent as he was still seemingly orgasming in fantasies of killing his brother, in his own dark and subtle way of course.

"Mission, mission!" Kakashi confirmed and cackled like mad. "Survival training!"

"What kind of mission is that?!" Naruto asked.

"Survive and you'll become a team. Don't survive and you'll be returned to the Academy. You do know only 34 % of the graduates actually become genin, right?" Kakashi chirped.

Sasuke looked unfazed, still probably drooling in his mind. Sakura did her best 'Oh nooooo~' face and Naruto looked like his brain had been overloaded.

"What? How can we return in the Academy if we don't survive? We already graduated, so-? But-? Oh, man! This sucks! I want another sensei."

Kakashi smiled. "Tough chance." He clasped his hands again. Sasuke snapped out of his fantasies and started trembling at the prospect of being send back to the ninja kindergarten. It would undoubtedly thwart his murderous plans. "Well, meeting's over. Tomorrow, five a.m. Bring your ninja equipments and don't eat breakfast." The three trembling genin - well two plus one fake-genin that was fake-trembling - turned to look at him. "...You'll throw up if you do." Then he was gone.

"Okay," Naruto spoke after a moment. "Then I'll eat now! You wanna come guys?"

"Why not?" Sakura needed to protect the guy, after all. And getting to know him and being there for him might remove his suspicions, whatever they were.

"Awesome! Sasuke-teme, what about you?"

No way. Sasuke's the type to skip team-building, go home and fap to the thought of vengeance, letting the others think him too cool for those things-

"...Alright." Even Naruto seemed surprised. But maybe Sasuke was curious about her. Definitely not romantically, just in a way in which he could estimate her usefulness to him.

"Teme, you sure?" Naruto repeated, frowning.

"Yes, dobe, I'm sure." Sakura giggled at the gay undertones of it all.

So, to Ichiraku they went. Sakura was having a bit of a hard time since she wasn't the most social in the lot. ANBU rarely were. That's why she loved Kakashi. He could understand her introversion and if - when they were off duty- they had arranged a meeting and in the end one of them said he wasn't in the mood, the other would understand.

"So, Sakura," Naruto began, still struggling with the name. Obviously he was the type of a person who used to talk to people as if they were already best friends, maybe because he subconsciously was searching for warmth, love and acceptance. "What were you doing these last few years? I know you said you were home-schooled, but did you learn any interesting jutsus?"

"Dobe," it was Sasuke who said it, looking to Sakura defiantly. "She doesn't have a clan. Her family were once civilians. What interesting jutsus could she have learned?"

"Why, I'll have you know that my uncle is a very good ninja. He's really smart. He taught me how to walk on trees!"

"That's so cool, Sakura!" Naruto said. "I can't wait for Kakashi-sensei to teach us... if he teaches us..." Sakura ignored him. "Hey, what do you think of Kakashi-sensei, Sakura?"

"He seems..." _Awesome. He's so cool that women throw themselves in his feet but before that, those bitches have to pass through my thorough evaluation._ Sakura cackled in her mind. "Weird." Of course, she couldn't very well tell them this. And Kakashi was indeed weird. She blamed her weirdness on him too - his odd character was rubbing off on her.

"I agree one hundred percent!" Naruto declared and even Sasuke hn-ed. The ramen was finally served. "Man, I'm so hungry I could eat the whole stand shop!" Sakura and Sasuke blinked. Naruto's ramen was gone, like that.

Sakura and Sasuke began to eat, although more slowly.

"Hey, Sakura," Naruto said. "Did you meet any friends these past few years?"

"I suppose I was on my own," she said. "I do have this cousin that helped me with the training and we sortta grew really close," she amended as she swallowed a mouthful.

"Biblically?"

Sakura spluttered. "Kami, no! Naruto! You're not supposed to be such a pervert yet!" But she supposed virgins were the horniest of the bunch. So much pent up energy...

God, did she seriously imagine just now Naruto... Ewww!

"Naruto," Sasuke ordered. "Stop being so annoying to Sakura."

_**Thank you**__, Sasuke darling!_

As they were talking , Sakura saw someone pass through the crowd. She recognized his mask. That was... That...

"Kyaaaaaaaa!" Sakura flew away by the sheer strength of her nosebleed. The ANBU turned to her, sweat-dropping.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked. "What's the matter?"

"Dobe," Sasuke said with a smirk. "It's obvious she has fallen to my charms."

"Ehee, Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't be so sure of yourself," she said 'shyly'.

In reality there was one thought in her mind.

Yamato 'Tenzou'.

One wouldn't think he'd be so sexy until one saw him without his protector (perhaps intentionally ugly so as to avoid the fangirls?), his blouse that usually went all the way to his chin - torn away by shuriken, a few cuts bleeding (if possible) sexily, mingling with masculine sweat, eyes full with actual emotion...

"Sakura? Why are you breathing so heavily?" Naruto asked gullibly.

To anyone who had seen Yamato dressed normally, he was the equivalent of a rock-star.

_That's it, when I hit eighteen, I'm marrying you, Yamato-san. After all, I do owe you a dept for saving my life during the mission in Iwa..._

"Like a bull," Sasuke interjected helpfully.

Hell, even Kakashi agreed he was hot. His actual words, not hers: 'Tenzou's so hot that if I wasn't almost asexual but actually heterosexual, I'd go homosexual for him.'

'That's a lot of sexuality you're flapping out there, Kakashi,' Sakura had told him. "And do give up on him, please. I really wouldn't want to be rivals with my best friend.'

"Sakura?" Right. The girl noticed her twenty-two years old crush had gone away, most probably awkwardly. _You won't be awkward when these curves develop fully though_, Sakura thought sinisterly.

"Sorry, guys, I was spacing out for a moment there. You were saying?"

"We were wondering what would the test tomorrow be? 'Survival training'?"_ Oh, the babies, wait until you have to pass through Anko's 'survival training'. I swear I wasn't right in the head for a few weeks after that._

"I don't know," Sakura lied. "But I'm sure we'll beat this guy!"

Naruto smiled at her winningly. Sasuke's lips twitched upwards for a millisecond but it might have been an accidental spasm.

When lunch was over, Sasuke headed home without many formalities and only Sakura and Naruto remained.

"Right," the girl said awkwardly.

Naruto laughed brightly. "Hey, Sakura, I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me?"

"Haven't you heard there's a protocol that says team-mates aren't supposed to be together until their genin team is disbanded?" Sakura asked coldly.

"Right, sorry. I haven't heard." _No_.

"Well, I suppose I should be going now," she said and turned to go.

"Sakura," Naruto stopped her.

"Yes?" His eyes were serious again - man, he did look like the Fourth when he was serious. How cool was having such an awesome gene of amazingness as that?

"I- today..." he tried for coherent words some more but soon gave up. "Nothing."

Sakura rose a brow and nodded. "Okay, bye then!" she said with a polite smile. And she then headed home. When she got out of his eyesight though, the girl's smile fell and she turned to the direction of the Hokage tower where she was sure Kakashi was expecting her. Like a shadow she moved from one roof to another until she reached her destination.

"... this is troublesome..." the Hokage was saying, reminding her of Shikaku, a man she had once been on a mission with.

"I'm afraid it is true, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied. "Uchiha Sasuke seems obsessed with revenge and based on my observations throughout the years, he truly is a weak link. Should an enemy approach him with a solution to his goals, he'd defect from Konoha."

_But Sasuke's only a kid_! Sakura naively thought for a second.

_But even younger ones have brought onto Konoha more than it was plausible_, the rational part in her mind argued.

The two men finally turned to look at her, acknowledging her presence.

"Haruno," the Third said. "I had given Hatake this mission but perhaps it is well that you have arrived to learn of it now." Sakura nodded and looked at the old man expectantly. "It is your taichou's mission to watch over the last Uchiha and see if he would turn disloyal to Konoha. After all, the boy's mentality is already fragile enough after he saw the massacre of his entire family. Should Hatake Kakashi, or you, see him stray the wrong way it is your duty to persuade him to renounce on it, or if your attempts fail - it is your duty to finish what his brother had started and assassinate him."

Sakura blinked - this was the only way in which she showed her surprise. "Yes, Hokage-sama," she replied and then turned to look at a weary Kakashi.

* * *

"Sorry I'm late, guys!" Sakura chirped brightly. "Is Kakashi-sensei here?"

The boys looked at her with bloodshot eyes. "No," they said in unison. Oh my, someone seemed to have fallen in hate with Kakashi.

"Why are _you_ late?" Sasuke asked. "It's annoying."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "If I got a yen every time you found something annoying, I'd be richer than the daimyou even with the current inflation." Naruto laughed. Sasuke scowled. Kakashi finally appeared.

"Yo, guys. Good morning," he said.

"You're late!" the three yelled.

"Yeah, well, there was this cat that crossed my road and it was black... the cat, not the road. The road was green..." he trailed off. "Anyway. It begins."

Sakura grinned and put on her red leather gloves. _So_, thought she. _It begins._

* * *

**A/N**_ : I know Yamato's a bit random but I saw Legend of the Seeker and Richard reminded me of a live-action Yamato. Man. This guy's smokin hot. Anyhow. I'm thinking about doing the test a __**lot**__ differently but haven't yet decided how. Ideas are welcome. Seriously. There's a virtual giveaway of chocolate-chip cookies ON a giant fudge-filled brownie ON ice-cream with Oreos WITH Nutella topping. So, review?_


	4. Kakashi's Retrieval, part one

_"Kakashi," Sakura cornered him as he was pretending to be interested in the color of the walls of her living room. "Don't pretend like it doesn't matter to you."_

_He smiled, his eyes elusive. "What doesn't?"_

_"You were just ordered to kill Obito's nephew-"_

_"Sakura-"_

_"-It matters."_

_His façade dropped and her friend sighed. "I'll do anything within my power to win his loyalty. I'll show him that he has much to learn from Konoha..." He looked at her then. "Help me out too. He needs a friend he can respect. Earn his respect and maybe he'll feel more tied to this village."_

_"It will be a bit difficult to show him some ass-kicking strength when I'm with this," Sakura said, gesturing to the violet, tear-shaped stone on her forehead. Usually she used it to store chakra. This time she just stored much more than usual until the only chakra she seemed to have was slightly above that of a normal genin._

_"Tanaka-san and I trained you better even when you didn't have much chakra resources. Remember how lil' you were then, still determined on kicking my arse?"_

_Sakura's mother entered the room, carrying a tray with hot chocolate and biscuits. "Sakura, Kakashi, there you go." She left it on the table and pinched Kakashi's cheek. "I really prefer you when you are with black hair and no mask," Mebuki said, referring to the time Kakashi carried an exhausted Sakura home, still in his disguise from an infiltration mission. Then the woman exited._

_"Aw, Kakashi-__**kun**__, you better be glad Hanako-san wasn't there then," Sakura didn't miss her chance to tease. "She definitely fancies you."_

_"Oh," Kakashi shot back, thankful for the change in the subject. "You mean like you fancy Tenzou?" he asked with a laugh. Sakura blushed and spluttered._

_"Well, he's cool, what can a poor, innocent maiden like me do?"_

_"Yeah, right," the gray-haired jounin replied. "Tell that to someone else, you're no blushing maiden. Don't think I didn't realize what you'd done with that boy Ichigo last month in Iwa."_

_Sakura gasped. "I was hoping you hadn't known."_

_"Sakura, you may be ANBU but you're still a kid to me. In the instant I saw you on the other day, I knew you'd been deflowered. Hey, I don't judge you - I lost it to hooker when I was your age." That just didn't make her feel better."Don't doubt your mother noticed this too though-"_

_Sakura flailed her arms blindly. "No, no, don't talk to me about stuff like that, you're grossing me out. Let's watch the TV show, occasionally talk about how much we worship chocolate and then you'll go out with Tenzou-kun and find yourself a woman - like you __**should**__ - but keep __**him**__ single until I become more curvy."_

_"You do realize Tenzou's actually a bit neurotic, unconfident, can't flirt to save his life and for the same life of him can't figure out why women throw themselves on his feet when they see him dressed like a normal person? And __**then**__ he just feels overwhelmed and starts rambling and women lose their interest in him?"_

_Sakura sniffled back the blood coming from her nose. "Aww, that's so cute. I'm officially inviting you as the best man when I marry him."_

_Ignoring the last comment, Kakashi grabbed a cookie, removed the mask and sipped from his hot chocolate as Sakura switched on the TV and searched for their favorite show._

_**I don't know what it says about me that one of my best friends is a twelve years old, bossy ANBU who likes to 'show her love' via kicks and punches, and the other one is a twenty-two years old chatterbox who doesn't know what to do with his sexiness.**_

_"Tomorrow be a bell test again?" Sakura asked casually._

_"Yeah, as always."_

_"Well, you didn't make me go through it."_

_"Because you weren't a team, and I owed your family." __**Because Rin was Haruo and Mebuki's cousin and I-**_

_"Hmm-" Sakura trailed off. "OH MY GOD, IT BEGINS!" she yelled and hugged the nearest pillow. Which was by chance the same one he'd been leaning on. But it didn't matter because the opening credits rolled._

_"OH MY GOD!" he joined her. Heart fluttering in his chest, Kakashi turned to watch the show - about a time traveler in a blue box that was actually his time-machine. _

* * *

Kakashi set an alarm clock in front of them and jingled two bells. "Whoever catches himself a bell will pass. At least one will not and he or she will be send back to the academy. What's worse - whoever fails this test, fails to get lunch and will -"

"Hatake-san!" A cat-masked ANBU who 'seemingly' appeared out of nowhere interrupted him. "The Hokage requests your presence immediately in the tower!"

Kakashi frowned. "What? I'm currently in the process of examining my genin team! Can't it wait?" he wailed.

"The Hokage doesn't wait, Hatake-san," the ANBU told him curtly.

Their (hopefully) soon-to-be team leader nodded and turned to smile at his (hopefully) soon-to-be squad apologetically. "Sorry, guys, can't be helped." And in a second he and the ANBU had sped away.

"The hell was that?" Naruto was the first to ask. Even Sasuke seemed ready to openly agree with him.

"It must have been something serious," Sakura concluded, watching the horizon, where her friend had been. "Jounin rarely leave their teams on solo-missions, especially in a moment like this. It must have been something only Kakashi-sensei could do."

"The Sharingan," Sasuke concluded, slapping the back of one of his hands in the other. Where the hell did he learn about the Sharingan from? "It's the only thing Kakashi has that other shinobi don't."

"That and a weird hair and a mask," Naruto added. "Wonder what's behind the mask though..." Sakura saw the idea light up in his brain before he voiced it. Naruto grinned mischievously, his deep blue eyes looking at both of his teammates. "I know what _our_ next mission will be!"

"Don't be a fool, Naruto," Sakura said. "And don't irk our sensei, we already know he doesn't have a very good opinion about us."

Sasuke agreed.

The three decided to wait until the jounin showed up again and discussed some strategies.

"There were only two bells," Naruto began.

"Brilliant observation skills," Sasuke said. "I'm astounded, really."

"Sasuke!" Sakura shut him up, interested in seeing where the blond boy would go. The Uchiha was offended that she'd suddenly switched her preferences and was not acting as if she fancied him, but maybe she never had. There was something odd about the girl but maybe she was sincerely only 'mock'-fangirling him and was actually a serious kunoichi that appeared to want to befriend him in her own unique way. Or maybe he was just hoping too much. Hn.

"Anyway," the jinchuriki continued again. "He also said that only two would be able to catch a bell and the other would be send back to the Academy but I don't buy it. Throughout the whole Konoha genin teams are of three." Sakura nodded. "There can't be two because that would screw up the training process. With the jounin-leader the team is actually four - if there are three one won't have his back watched over and the formation will be more vulnerable."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. "It's more likely he'll send all of us back to the Academy... but that would mean..."

"The survival test is all about team-work," Naruto finished. "Hear that, _teme_?"

"If this team actually wants to remain genin and continue on towards chunin, we'll have to learn to work together," Sakura told them. The boys turned to look at her, wheels turning in their brains as they discovered just what kind of man were they appointed to follow.

"Maybe everything he did was to test us," Sasuke said. "That would explain why he was always late- to test our patience, for a shinobi always has to be patient." Naruto's eyes widened with wise understanding.

"Or," the boy continued in a hushed, dramatical whisper. "He's just naturally late."

"Nah," Sakura disagreed (even though it was true, she had to keep up Kakashi's image while he was not here). "I don't think so. He's testing us." She turned to look to Sasuke. "Now the more important thing is what will we do once he comes back."

"We attack as a team!" Naruto yelled. Sakura whacked him in the back of the head.

"Baka," she said. "You don't frontally attack a jounin!"

"Then," Naruto replied. "What do we do?" He paused to think and looked away. "Maybe I can use my Kage Bushins and Sasuke can use some jutsu..."

But in that moment the cat-masked ANBU ('_Izumi-san'_) returned. "I'm sorry but Hatake Kakashi-san has gone on an A-ranked mission."

Sakura froze. _What? So sudden? The fuck?_

"For how long?" she asked, for a moment forgetting her role of a genin; her voice held the full authority of _Ookami_, ANBU and apprentice of _Karasu_. The ANBU blinked at her as if he did not get her.

"It is not within the authority of a genin to know," Izumi reminded her.

" _I_ ask you: _for how long_?" the girl persisted and the two boys of her team looked at her oddly.

Because sometimes A-rank missions turned to S-rank and the last time he left without goodbye -three weeks ago - her best friend and taichou almost _died_.

Izumi-san repeated: "It is not within _your_ authority to know." _Damn it. So maybe even __**he**__ didn't know. _ "A temporary captain of the squad will be appointed while Hatake-san is gone. You will be informed by the end of the week of the new replacement."

_That long?_ Sakura thought. _If we'll do nothing for a few days and then get a new replacement, the mission has to be at least a month-..._

She had to keep herself together. Blowing her cover as a genin so early would only shame her teachers and her family. Even though she had most sucked in the infiltration exam.

"Farewell," the ANBU said and left in a blink.

"Man," Naruto said. "This sucks. Truly and most seriously and honestly sucks."

"I wonder who'll be the replacement?"

"Hey, Sakura-?" Naruto turned to her and she blinked back her worries.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Sakura whispered.

Later that day, she went to the Tower but the Hokage had been busy. So she went home and sulked for some hours. Then she went out, bored, and decided to follow her teammates a bit and gather some information about them herself. Of course, she put on her ANBU mask so that even if they did see her, they wouldn't recognize her as Haruno Sakura, their genin teammate.

First it was Sasuke - because this was the boy who was related to Kakashi's previous best friend (let's hope they don't always die in horrible, tragic ways - that'd be a bit awkward for her). The Uchiha was in his compound and training some mildly offensive techniques but he sortta bored her so she decided to next follow her own target - the jinchuriki.

Naruto was interesting, at least. Because he was everything a shinobi shouldn't be - he was too bright, too loud, too energetic, too impetuous, too _much_. He was a contradiction - even though he appeared stupid to most, there was this occasional moment of sheer intelligence in some of the things he said, not to mention there were moments when he looked at her with some depth and seriousness that didn't seem much in character. He had an awesome hearing and still appeared not to notice the way the civilians spoke of him when he passed them by : 'demon', 'monster', 'hideous creature trapped in the face of a child'. And the last sounded too melodramatic to simply pass by without a good punch.

_How can you smile so much, Naruto?_

She watched him from a safe distance as he ate his ramen and yelled a cheerful goodbye to the owner of the stand. His smile dropped a bit as he neared his apartment and then completely fell when he entered it.

From a branch of a tree near his window, she then saw him enter and look around, as if a bit lost. The apartment was only one roomed and dirty - typical for men and boys. There was no TV and not many books, probably only a few student books. Naruto sat on his bed and looked around again. After a while, the boy stood up, attempted to tidy up the place. After little success, he gave up and with a soundless to her groan he went out again.

With a cheerful grin again, he went to the Uchiha compound and nagged Sasuke to train with him. Surprisingly, Sasuke actually gave him a scroll with a jutsu that seemed to be taken out of the library and upon seeing them try to practice it, she realized that it was the scroll with the instructions to the tree-walking technique. _Perhaps they didn't want to be much behind me, then._

Suddenly, Sakura was struck with the idea that this would be a good way to motivate her team to improve. Show them a bit of this and that and make them an awesome team. Sakura knew from experience that fighting together by someone's side could be the foundation to an awesome bond - a perfect example being hers and Kakashi's friendship.

Sakura didn't really find it creepy that she was watching from safe dis- okay - _stalking_ them. After all, she wasn't romantically attached to any of them (heck, she rarely stalked her own crush). They were simply missions - the person she probably had to kill and the one she had to protect. Simple as that. It was easier to view them as missions in order not to get too attached to any of them. Sakura had problems with being attached to people. The fewer of them there were, the better. Such was the way in the shinobi world that people dropped like flies on missions and there was 90% chance you'll die a lot earlier than most people.

So, Sakura followed Naruto later that night as he again went home. He was so tired he only kicked off his shoes and threw himself on the bed. Soon, he appeared to have fallen asleep. She could almost hear him snore.

He looked vulnerable. She almost wanted to go in and brush away the stray lock that was covering his face but restrained herself.

With a sigh, Sakura turned away and jumped, on to her way to the Hokage Tower again. She most certainly didn't notice Naruto turn around, open his eyes and look after her retreating figure, his eyes dark and sharp.

The Third was again busy, so Sakura went home. Almost without saying a word to her parents, Sakura herself went to sleep, dog tired.

_"Hey, Sakura-chan! Look what I got you!"_

_"Naruto! You shouldn't have bothered!"_

_"Ah, no problem, I saw it on the shop near my apartment and it wasn't that expensive..."_

_"It's wonderful, thank you. What kind of stone is it?"_

_"Baa-san said it was moonstone. See? You look lovely in it, Sakura-chan! You always look lovely though!"_

Sakura woke up of the dream, feeling confused. She'd dreamed she had been friends with Naruto in her childhood.

_**Wait**_.

With a pang of realization, she remembered that she _had_ been something like friends with him in that first and only month in the Academy.

It's a bizarre experience, to remember some part of your life you had forgotten, as if it hadn't existed.

And then, on that day she'd been most severely bullied by Mikado, when he'd smashed the moonstone, when Naruto hadn't said anything - _when he didn't stand up for her_ -

And on the next week her uncle had come with the offer.

Sakura buried her fingers in her hair.

* * *

On the next day, Izumi-san found her and told her that Yamato-taichou would temporary lead the team. It should've made her giddy and blood-nosed, but it hadn't. She still worried about Kakashi and his mysterious mission. He was rarely called on missions without her, mainly because Tanaka-sensei had taught her some of Tsunade Senju's healing techniques and she'd become a damn good healer. Probably she'd only have been better if Tsunade herself taught her. And so, Sakura and Kakashi had become an unbeatable team together. Add in the fact that they developed the kind of comradeship most jounin-leaders would only fantasize about and it's no wonder why the other felt put off when he/she wasn't somewhere out there, aiding his/her best friend.

Yamato-taichou was wearing his eccentric protector now and was awkward and nervous but he tested their abilities through a standard inquiry test which they all passed. He really was too much nervous and unsure to do anything else.

Sakura, despite her previous vows that she was more worried about Kakashi, occasionally had to wipe away a bloody nose.

As the week went on with no word on Kakashi and suspiciously too busy for her Hokage, Sakura and the boys began training and completing ridiculous D-ranked missions. Saving cats just seemed too degrading to her jounin capacities but she kept on daydreaming about vacation houses in Suna and tall, dark husbands that looked suspiciously much like Yamato.

At the end of the week, her first paycheck came. Sakura celebrated it by doing a ritual dance of happiness around her house and waving the check to the sky like it had been some manna from heaven.

* * *

"Sakura?" Naruto greeted unsurely, as he saw her carrying an enormous sack on a shoulder. It was suspiciously shaped like a large plasma display panel.

Sakura's (admittedly a bit) manic, crooked grin seemed to freeze for a second before it became more mellow. "Naruto, how's it going today?" she asked. It was their day off, a sunny Saturday.

"Good," he said softly, and looked away from her. "You?"

"Wonderful," she said and suddenly seemed to be in a hurry. "Well, I'll be going now. Bye!"

And she hurried away. The TV seemed as heavy as a giant rock but Sakura carried it easily enough.

Judging by the way she behaved around him, maybe she still remembered him. He'd been a bit of a dick back then. Especially since that time - the day that had made her dye her hair. He hadn't helped her. And he lost her.

It seemed stupid that he had still remembered a girl from five years ago, right? But he had. Because she'd almost became his friend. And he failed her. He might have beaten Mikado later on, and it might have been the first time he decided he'd become a Hokage, someone of power in order be able to help people like Sakura... but in the end, that didn't matter when it came to _her_. He'd failed her, even if she could now save herself.

Naruto looked at the small vial full of moondust that hung as a bracelet on his left arm. He'd made it a bracelet, with black beads around the vial it so that it wouldn't look gay-ish.

The dust was a reminder that he wouldn't fail his precious people again.

* * *

"Right," Yamato-taichou said and cleared his throat. "Students. Let's begin the water-walking then, okay? It's one of the basics that need to be perfected in order to learn complicated jutsus." He mumbled a 'I'm too young for this shit' under his breath but they heard him anyway. Well, Sakura's ANBU hearing and Naruto's jinchuriki enhanced one did, Sasuke only read his lips with his super Uchiha, albeit still undeveloped eyes. "Other such aiding techniques help master chakra control. Sakura?" The girl smiled at him saucily and headed towards the river. "First, touch the surface with the palm of your hand and feel it." Sakura bit back a dirty comment feeling up _his_ surface with her hand. "Release some chakra into it and change its frequencies until your hand sticks to it. Try to remember the amount of chakra you needed and next try it with one of your feet. It's basically the same as the tree-walking."

Sakura did as he said and on the second try (the first ending in theatrical yelp and a few splashes), she'd succeeded. Yamato-taichou smiled unsurely at her and she _winked_ him, making the twenty-two years old blanch.

Her success motivated Sasuke and Naruto like nothing other and by the end of the day, when Yamato-taichou had gone, the boys were competing on who'd run on the surface of the river faster. Sakura grinned at them as she watched their antics. Her smile froze midway as she saw a dragon mask in the shadows, hidden from her teammates. The ANBU motioned for her to come near. Since the boys were too busy climbing up a small cascade and clearly were too interested in glaring at each other, Sakura went.

"Haruno-san," the ANBU said, revealing himself to be a _her_. "The Hokage is finally free to meet you. You may go now."

"Thank you, Ryou-san."

The ANBU was gone in a puff of smoke and Sakura went back towards her teammates. "Guys!" she yelled. "I'll be going now! See you tomorrow at the training grounds!"

"Bye, Sakura!" they said, almost in unison, though Naruto was a bit more louder than Sasuke's mumbled goodbye. Obviously he was too lost in concentration.

Sakura's features turned serious as soon as she turned her back to them. She'd worried about Kakashi. There was just something _off_ about this mission. He'd just recently resigned from ANBU and became a jounin-rank team leader. She was pretty sure he was safe from solo A-ranked missions for at least a few months. Unless he wasn't solo and they'd assigned that incompetent medic nin that couldn't suck a poison to save her life (this sounded more literal than she'd meant it).

The walk wasn't long but each step made her feel a bit more worried.

"Hokage-sama," she said finally. The Third was standing up and looking through his window.

"Haruno," he greeted in a raspy voice, without turning back. "What I am about to tell you is an S-class secret." Another one? "Our spy, the sannin Jiraya, has uncovered a secret organization that goes by the name Akatsuki. If what Jiraya says is true, this organization is widespread, powerful. I've send Hatake to gather more information, as his Sharingan would best help him stay protected and get away if he'd been discovered." And so that he'd be able to steal for the village any techniques said organization possessed, Sakura finished in her mind. "I'd hoped that it hadn't come to that, but unfortunately..."he trailed off.

"He's been found out," Sakura said, this time aloud.

"He's _almost_ found out," the Hokage corrected her. "Fortunately he hasn't been infiltrating the Akatsuki but one of their contacts."

"Are Akatsuki's spies in Konoha found or at least suspected?" asked the ANBU.

"No."

"How has Kakashi been jeopardized?"

"The last information we've received of him was that one of the contact's hired guards, an A-rank missing nin, was suspecting him. Then the radio line died...

"Jiraya wouldn't have found the contract out if it wasn't for the last interesting bit of news you and Hatake brought from the Iwa mission. Akatsuki 's contact, goes by the name of Inuzuka Renji - yes, that is Inuzuka Kiba's father. He stole a few scrolls from the Yamanaka clan before he ran away so he has some of their more traditional powers."

Sakura interrupted him. "You've send Kakashi on a S-rank mission so he could gather information on a _mind reader_?" she asked furiously.

"Now, Haruno, remember your place," the old man said harshly. "I don't need a twelve years old ANBU lecturing me." Thirteen, she mentally corrected. "You remind me of your mentor too much. Hatake's been taught some defensive techniques by Yamanaka Inoichi shortly before he left."

Sakura sighed. _"_Is this a retrieval mission then? Is there a chance Kakashi's alive?"she asked almost distantly, almost as if it'd be a bother if she had to retrieve him.

_"_It's not certain, Haruno,"the Third said.

If Hatake Kakashi was still alive, and there was a big _still_, Sakura imagined him to be in a dark room, chained, his back bloodied as the enemy used all kinds of tortures on him to gather Konoha secrets.

"When will I be going?" Sakura asked and breathed in deeply.

"Tomorrow, four a.m."

"Will that be all, Hokage-sama?"

"Just sign the mission scroll," he said and motioned a black ANBU scroll on his desk.

"Do you have a pen?"

"Yes, here you go."

"Thank you."

Sakura signed the scroll after she read the mission details.

"Permission to excuse myself?"

"Permission granted."

And she went out, as stoically as an automaton. The evening was a little chilly despite the summer. It had also began to rain. Sakura moved as if she was a machine _perpetuum mobile_.

She had to prepare. She had to prepare her things, her stuff. She had to prepare-

Sakura dropped the pen she hadn't known she was still holding.

- She had to prepare for the possibility of losing her only friend.

The ANBU bended over so that she'd lift the pen up but a sob so powerful ripped through her she had to sit down on the muddied asphalt . There weren't any people passing through the street and frankly she didn't care if anyone saw her.

Of course, the medic in her told her she was hyperventilating. She couldn't breathe. But oh kami, oh kami - it felt too real. No. She didn't have a lot of people she cared for.

Then, as if to make matters worse, the image appeared before her again. Kakashi chained, his back bared and bloodied. There were other kinds of torture too, she'd learned from him. Traditional torture with whipping, teeth-pulling, finger-cutting. Other types, yes -there were even worse. Rape. Mind-torture via genjutsu - making him imagine his worst fears - dying alone and miserable and old by his own hand, having failed his teammates; reliving his worst memories.

Sakura found a strength she hadn't known she had left in her - to stand up, go to the nearest bin and vomit.

When she was done, she barely brushed away her mouth with the back of her sleeve and moved a few steps again, only to fall again on the ground, beside the pen. She'd felt a bit better and she forced herself to breathe more evenly and calm herself down.

This was the pathetic state in which Naruto found her, his figure safely hidden beneath a red umbrella and a plastic back with cupped ramen in hand.

"...Sakura," he said softly.

* * *

The girl looked up - wide, green eyes with so much hurt. He almost dropped his things but ninja reflexes steeled his hands. Carefully, Naruto moved towards Sakura and kneeled in front of her so that his umbrella was shielding her from the vicious attack of the summer tempest too.

"Sakura, what's the matter?" he repeated.

"Nothing, Naruto," she said breathily.

"Can I help you with what's bothering you?" he asked her.

"No." She tried to smile at him but miserably failed. "It's just my cousin."

"The one you _don't_ know biblically?"

"The same." And she began to cry anew.

"What happened to him."

"I... I..." Oh. That would mean he'd died. Naruto lightly rested his hand on the top of Sakura's head, in a gesture he hoped was comforting.

He didn't know what to say really, so he said the first thing that came on his mind. "Everything will be alright again, Sakura." Man, that had been just dumb. What would be alright again? The man wouldn't come back from the dead. He was glad Sasuke-teme wasn't here to criticize his lack of tact. Not that _he_ was one to talk, mind you. "You can count on me. And Sasuke too, even if he doesn't show it - you've sortta grown on him, I think." But that might make her get her hopes on the Uchiha again, if she ever held any. He still wasn't sure. "But, uh, as a friend!" Sakura took a deep breath and tried to regain her composure. "And Yamato-taichou too - even though I don't know what you like about him. Don't think I haven't seen the way you make gooey eyes at him." Sakura managed a wobbly smile. Alright. He could do this. "And Kakashi-sensei too, even if we sortta didn't get to know him." And suddenly Sakura's face crumbled again and she began to cry as earnestly as before.

Naruto's eyes widened in concern and he suddenly knew what his instinct told him to do. He dropped his umbrella and the bag of food and felt the rain instantly soak him but that didn't matter because his nose was buried in the crook of her neck, his hands around her.

Well, that subdued her shuddering, painful gasps easily enough. If he had known a hug was the key to end crying, he'd have hugged a lot of people in need. Except Sasuke-teme. He would never hug Sasuke. Or another guy. A simple pat on the shoulder would do.

"Do you want me to help you go home?"

"N-no, I'll manage."

And slowly, she released herself from his arms, got up and made a few shaky steps. "Thank you, Naruto." And continued on her way, leaving Naruto crouching in the rain and looking after her.

He stood up suddenly, grabbed the umbrella and ran to her. "Sakura, take the umbrella."

"I'm already kind of wet."

"Take it anyway."

"But you're less wet, it'd make more of a difference with you!" she protested.

"Sakura." She really didn't understand it, did she? He handled her the umbrella and she took it.

"Thanks."

And she walked away, his red umbrella in hand.

Naruto looked around after she had gone, noticing the smell of vomit and the broken pen bleeding ink with the title of the Hokage on it.

Naruto wasn't nearly half as stupid as people thought him to be (mainly because he _was_ somewhat wild and loud and they thought he didn't realize Hinata was in love with him, whereas he simply didn't know how to gently tell her he wasn't interested; Kurama had told him he was being a pathetic insult to mankind for this).

There was something off here.

Kurama had told him the masked ANBU he'd seen a week ago had the same chakra as his female teammate but that wasn't possible unless Sakura _was_ an ANBU and... from then on it hadn't been difficult to put things together. It wasn't that rare to see young kids become jounin, some of the ANBU that had spied on him _had_ been young teenagers, judging by their physical traits - voice, body, etc. Unless the military was taking even squeaky dwarves, the most unexperienced of which would actually (somewhat) quietly gush on how cute Naruto was. Which was actually perverted.

The blond shinobi headed towards the Hokage tower. He was a frequent visitor there but it was late at night so the secretary had to call to the Hokage compound and wake up the Third. Naruto supposed that as a jinchuriki, he could always call the leader of the village he was supposed to be protecting, probably due to some political thing he didn't want to think about at the moment because he'd end up becoming jaded like the Hokage himself. He wanted to be a Hokage but not that soon.

"Tell him it's important," Naruto added to the secretary. A minute later, she told him the Hokage would welcome him at the Hokage compound. Naruto nodded and headed towards the building.

The Hokage compound was beautiful. It was - surprisingly - a not-too-big house. He had dreamed growing up in it when he was younger. The kitchen seemed cozy and the living room - like a place he could sit writing his homework in, despite the fact he was too lazy to ever write his homework. It was just _boring_.

The Hokage was drinking green tea.

"What is it, Naruto?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"Quit the act, jii-san, I know about Sakura." The Hokage's surprise only grew. "Why didn't you tell me in the beginning?"

"Did she tell you?"

"No," Naruto said, a bit irritated now. "I found out on my own. Sasuke is suspicious too, I think. Why didn't you just simply tell us? If your goal was a better chance at winning through surprise attack, you didn't really think it through. A good form of surprise attack would be if _the enemy_ didn't know, not her teammates. A sudden power boost from Sakura would just surprise _us_ in the midst of battle and in might not bode well."

The Hokage smiled. "Well, at least I see you're nearly not as bad a shinobi material as I thought you'd be. You have some good observation and deducing skills if you figured out an ANBU. I hadn't specifically told her not to tell her team though. Did the fox help with the deduction, by chance?"

"How did you know ab-"

"Naruto, I know you well enough to notice something's different about you, a change of character if you will. Give some credit to _my_ observation skills," the Third said and lit for his pipe.

"You know, his name is Kurama. And he said that at the night of the attack, Uchiha Madara had used his Sharingan at him."

The Hokage was quiet for a while as he took in the news. "I see," was all he said.

"Jii-san, why was Sakura crying today?"

The old man's face softened. "She had been crying? I should've guessed that. She seemed too detached about this."

"What's this about?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen gave a weary sigh. "I really hate lying to you, Naruto, and I think that you deserve to know at least some of the truth that's hidden from you."

"Why can't I learn all of it?"

"One step at a time," the Hokage said. "If you learned it all at once, you'll become so disillusioned with this village you might just decide to defect from it."

"I would never!" Naruto yelled with enthusiasm. "Even if there are nasty guys here, there are still innocent people who suffer and need all the help they could get. You'll see, I'll become even greater than the Fourth!"

"He lived here," the Third suddenly said. "Did you know?"

"The Fourth?"

"Yes. He and his wife Kushina."

"The Fourth was married?"

"One step at a time, Uzumaki Naruto," was all the Hokage said. "Though I suppose you could ask your furry little friend, he'd know." The man cleared his throat, suddenly all serious and demanding attention. Naruto ached to learn how to act like that. "Now, what I am about to tell you is an S-rank secret and I'm telling it to you only because I see you've matured considerably enough to keep your mouth shut."

Naruto slowly nodded.

* * *

Sakura told her parents that she'd be going on a mission tomorrow morning and prepared her things. There were still a few hours left but she couldn't sleep. She really didn't want to think about Kakashi either but everything else seemed brutal and insulting towards their friendship. She couldn't _not_ think about him. He'd be alright. A little bruised, a little shaken and maybe he'd need to consult Inoichi-san a few times but he'd be _alright_.

After a short state she could call half-sleep that had left her head heavy and her eyes tired, the alarm clock rang, making her heart contract in her chest as if it was the ANBU examination day and her mother would wake her up with that cheerful voice that told her she needed to be somewhere important. Sakura despised that voice. At least Kakashi had cheered her up enough then.

At a mild pace, she put on her sandals, her backpack and tied her hair in a low, short ponytail. Her shinobi parents heard her as she moved about the house and came to send her off.

"Have a safe mission, Sakura," her father told her.

"We love you." And they smiled bravely at her. She bravely smiled back and was off.

Sakura loved the village in the early morning when everything was full of life and peace - there was something tranquil in the fact that all the people you fought to protect were sleeping soundly in their beds . Except one.

Or more, as she was beginning to figure out, sensing the enormous bout of chakra.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled cheerfully. "How are you!"

Someone threw a slipper from their window at him. "Quiet!" they yelled. "Some of us are trying to sleep, barbarian!"

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" Sakura asked, her voice something between a whisper and a concerned yell.

"I'm here to help you on the mission," he said, still cheerful.

Sakura gaped.

"Hn. Too early. Way too early."

"Sasuke?!"

"No need to sound so surprised," her raven-haired teammate said, rubbing his eyes. "This is a team mission after all. Yamato-taichou told us last night. It was a bit traumatic - waking up to those wide eyes staring at you, that is," he complained.

"Hi, Sakura!" Yamato said brightly.

_But this is A-rank, possibly S-rank mission! I get Yamato, but those kids will be in the way! They might get killed and what will I do without my house in Suna then? The TV..._

But she didn't care about that. Right now, to retrieve Hatake Kakashi, she could use a battalion of shinobi and lead a Fourth War.

"Please don't molest me in my sleep," Yamato seemed to be saying. Sakura smiled, at last.

"Don't worry, Yamato-taichou," she replied. "I won't do such X-rated things to you." The man sighed. "Yet."

"You're weird," Sasuke said, intrigued.

And so, without another word, they left.

_I think it's safe to say we've passed the team test_, _Kakashi_, Sakura thought. _Let's just hope you'll be alive enough to lead us._


	5. Kakashi's Retrieval, part two

Sakura looked ahead and ran with chakra-enhanced steps. Whenever there was a rock or a tree in front of her, she simply threw it out of her way.

"Wait, Sakura!" Yamato yelled after her, an enormous rock missing him by a inch. Sasuke, who was actually about to be hit, had to make an impressive circus-like maneuver. "We have to rest!" Sakura continued as if she hadn't heard him. "We've been about it for a whole day!"

"Don't care," Sakura said. "Take a soldier pill. Naruto has enormous stamina and Sasuke would never complain."

"Sakura!" Yamato hissed and outran her, to turn back and stop her way. "That's an order!" he said.

The kunoichi was forced to stop, but she knew she'd soon run again. She didn't care if he was her captain. Even if he was the daimyo of the Fire country, she didn't care. That was Kakashi out there, captured.

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?" Sasuke asked, panting. She turned to look at her two teammates. The Uchiha looked as if he was about to be sick and Naruto just looked unreadable. She hated seeing him unreadable.

"As a ninja of your rank," Yamato said then. "You are a disgrace." Wow, that was a bit harsh.

Sakura forced herself to actually think now, ANBU training kicking in. She was being a nuisance for the team. Sasuke was on the verge of fainting as he, as a genin, didn't have soldier pills. Naruto had Kyuubi's enormous chakra so that he didn't have the same problem, but he seemed... detached of the whole matter. As if he was having some internal conversation... and maybe he was. Yamato-taichou looked stern, even if cute.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, looking at her team. "I let my emotion get the better of me and forgot that the good of the team comes first."

But it hurt. If she let herself think of _it_, she wouldn't be able to breathe. She realized it was stupid to value someone who put his life on the line every day so much. But she did and there was no stopping it now. It's like trying to stop loving your older brother because he was a policemen.

"Okay," Yamato said then and clasped his friends. "We'll camp here, in this clearing. The trees around will give us some advantage and hide us." And soon, a small wooden hut appeared, thanks to the temporary team leader's abilities.

As the boys sat around and took out the rations out of their bags and began to eat, Sakura was looking down in shame. She was also a few meters away from the rest, her back turned at them.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Naruto, offering her some steaming cupped ramen.

"Thank you," she said softly as she took it. "Naruto..."

He looked at her warmly. "You're welcome," he said as he sat down next to her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "Not really." She could never explain to him.

"Give me some credit," the boy replied, as if hearing her thoughts. Sakura looked away. Sasuke was too busy trying to look dignified as he ate. "It's really not that hard to put things together." She looked at him curiously. "The way you and Kakashi-sensei jokingly insult each other, the way you always defend him even when you don't realize it and your weird attitude now... I can only tell this because there is only one person that'd make _me _act like that..." Naruto smiled. "Kakashi -sensei is your best friend, isn't he?" Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes as she nodded. She knew Sasuke was probably looking at them with his peripheral vision, and Yamato could hear them perfectly well, and...

"Alright," Naruto said as he grinned and turned around, to look at the others. "It's time to put _all_ the cards on the table!" he said.

"Naruto, w-wait a minute!" Sakura said, her eyes widening.

"I suppose we need new introductions, as the ones with Kaka-sensei sucked," Naruto said with a grin. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed fox!" the blonde boy proclaimed, rubbing his whisker marks. "My father is the Fourth Hokage who, after his fight with an actually alive Uchiha Madara, had to seal the fox inside me and sacrificed himself in the process. My mother is Uzumaki Kushina, descendant of the first Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails... Kurama's not really that bad once you get to know him."

Yamato and Sasuke were looking at him with wide eyes, mouths gaping. Sakura was no different, until Naruto motioned pointed towards her with his thumb. "That's Haruno Sakura, she's an ANBU and from what the Third told me, she's the protegee of Kakashi-sensei, and from what I just realized - his best friend. That's why she's so intent on saving him."

Then he nodded towards the Uchiha and his grin fell a bit. "That's Uchiha Sasuke, he saw his whole clan slaughtered by his brother and idol, Itachi and that traumatized the crap out of him. Sasuke is a bit of emotionally thick but he's my best friend and for the last few years, we've trained together and we help each other escape fangirls - well, his fangirls and Hinata - by creating ingenious jutsus."

Then he looked towards Yamato-taichou and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I don't really know much about you." The Jinchuriki then looked towards his two team-mates who were, oddly enough, squinting at him as though he had offended them somehow. "Hey, what did I do, guys?"

"Why were you the one to introduce _us_?" Sasuke asked. "We're supposed to tell about ourselves." And then his eyes turned a bit softer as he asked: "Why didn't you tell me about the Fourth? If only I knew your mother was married to _him _we'd have fitted all the pieces a lot sooner! Did you know your parents are my godparents? And my mother is your godmother?"

"No way, really?" Naruto asked, shocked. "That's so cool!" He laughed. "We're practically, like, cousins or something!"

"Wait, wait!" Yamato-taichou said, making a gesture with his hands that looked like an "X" and seemed to say precisely 'wait a minute!' . He was looking at Naruto. "How did you know about the Jinchuriki? It's supposed to be an S-class secret!"

"Well, no one said anything. I kind of found out on my own..."

"Now, _really_?" Sasuke said sarcastically.

"How?" Yamato-taichou asked, not paying attention to the Uchiha.

"When I was seven years old, something happened that made me really angry," Naruto said softly, avoiding looking at anyone and compulsively playing with the beads on the bracelet around his left hand. "And I almost blackened out at one point. And when I went to bed later, I saw him. Kurama. I was scared shitless, and first thing in the morning, I went to the Uchiha compound. Sasuke and I hadn't been really friends then, but I had no one else to turn to, because Iruka-sensei was on one of his rare mission, and jii-san had always been busy in that week.

"It was Sasuke who suggested that maybe the fox I had dreamed of had really been sealed inside me - not vanquished, like our generation was told. That explained a lot about the people that treated me like I was some demon that would bark at them at any moment... Since then, Sasuke and I sortta kept to each other and Sasuke searched through the books of the Konoha library for answers, since the old librarian hag didn't let me go there. Sasuke found out the basic techniques and symbols about sealing and they seemed like the base of the ones around my stomach.

"Then, what sealed the deal, pun intended, was that he found the name of the coryphaeus in the fuinjutsu - the Uzumaki clan, which had been wiped out some years ago... Kurama thinks Madara might be behind it too... See, it was Uchiha Madara that had used his Sharingan on the fox and forced it to attack Konoha twelve years ago. The fox is naturally suspicious... although I wouldn't go as far as to accuse him of everything bad that happened in the history of Konoha." Naruto suddenly realized he had finished his tale. He wished to end it in a more completing way, but truth was - the story _wasn't_ completed yet. Instead, he turned to Sasuke. "I only yesterday confronted the Hokage about Sakura's identity, Sasuke. It was then that he told me the fourth was married to a Kushina and I remembered that in that book of the clans you lend me, there was a Uzumaki Kushina. Kurama served to confirm the truth."

Sasuke smirked. "Dobe," he said - referring to Naruto's ultimately horrible marks in the first year of the Academy, after which he'd improved. "You might be a worthy Hokage after all, what with your lineage and deduction skills. If not Hokage, try out to be a detective."

"Heh, I suppose," Naruto said, scratching the back of his neck. "Though I think I'll still need an advisor, teme. Or a side kick that'd help me cope in the detective industry."

"Hn."

Sakura looked between the two friends oddly, not quite grasping that they were closer than she'd first thought them to be. Sure, she'd seen Naruto visit the Uchiha compound a couple of times, and Sasuke was a lot more tolerable when Naruto was around, and he did agree to actually come to _Ichiraku's_ but... were they truly best friends? In the same way she and Kakashi were?

Suddenly Yamato cleared his throat. "I don't actually remember my true name, so I can't tell you that," he began, dramatically. He was obviously moved by the exchange between team seven. "I was supposedly kidnapped and used by the terrible, evil Orochimaro for his experiments - well, it was certain that I was used, as I remember it and it was horrible - and I'm now something of a clone of the First and have his Wood release, as you all saw."

Naruto and Sasuke spluttered but before they could say anything, Sakura beat them to it. "No way," she said boldly. "You can't be a clone of the First."  
"And why is that?" the dark-eyed man asked her conceitedly.

"You're way too hotter than him."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Sorry, Sakura, while we're all so honest and open towards each other, I have to tell you. I'm just not into you. Or any twelve -"

"Thirteen!"

"... Thirteen years old girl. Please know that, and also - I've been in ANBU since before you were born and I'm technically your superior so please refrain from sexually harassing me."

Sakura looked at him with a wide grin. "You do realize I was only teasing you, right?"

"Huh?"

She laughed. "I adore you, taichou, I really do. But of course I don't fancy you in that way! You're a brilliant man and I sometimes feel you're distancing yourself from Kakashi and I too much, even though we're something of your only friends... That's why I tease you. And that's why Kakashi harasses you."

Yamato gave a sigh of relief, and in the same time - of woe - for all the harassment he had indured, and then he realized something. "Hey, I have Anko too!"

Sasuke also sighed. "Can we just establish that we're all anti-social hermits with tragic and honestly weird pasts and it's a whole miracle the four of us are talking together? Because of the sheer number of us, not because we wouldn't talk to each other otherwise?" This was the longest Sakura had ever heard Uchiha Sasuke talk.

"Yes," Yamato said.

"Finally!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Hermits United!" Sakura interjected.

Surprisingly it was Naruto who returned the exclamation. "_Yeah_!" Then he turned to Yamato. "I feel weird knowing you are a clone of the husband of my ancestor."

Yamato returned Naruto's squinting glance with one of his own. "I'm _somewhat_ of a clone and trust me, I feel weirder about it." Then the captain yawned like a cat and turned towards the rest of the team. "Well, if honesty night is over, we should go to sleep. We don't all have an enormous stash of energy like a certain blonde here."

"Alright..." the kids replied in unison.

"Yamato-taichou," Naruto said. "Where, mind telling me again, were Kakashi's last whereabouts?"

"Getsu," the man replied.

"Land of the hidden moon?" Naruto asked, remembering the geography. This could mean... for a boy who had never been outside of Konoha... And through _there_ at all places.

"Yes, it's very far away, Naruto," Yamato said.

Sasuke, who had already lain in his sleeping back turned around so he could face them again. "East of Konoha," he said. "Through the land of Whirlpools, Uzushiogakure, and towards the south islands of the land of Water..."

"You make it sound like an epic journey, when it's only a few days of running for a shinobi," Yamato said awkwardly.

"Well, I haven't traveled much till now," Sasuke deadpanned.

"Me neither," Naruto agreed. "Sakura? You must have seen many places while you've been on ANBU duty."

"I have," she confessed. "I don't care about the adventure though. I just want Kakashi to be alive."

Her teammates nodded in agreement.

As everyone fell asleep, Naruto laid on his sleeping bag, hands crossed behind his neck, and looked at the stars above him. The land of Whirlpools, Uzushiogakure... the ghost village of his mother and the family he never got to know because of the massacre. He got where Sasuke was coming from, alright. The boy still remembered that day when he and Sasuke stood before the book of the clans, looking at each other with fear and excitement. And then, when Sasuke read aloud, his voice growing softer and more astounded by the minute. And then, when dumbfounded, Naruto had realized that he was not only an orphan, but one of the last survivers of one of the most prominent clans. Perhaps there was still something that had belonged to them, there in the ruins of Uzushio... some link, something...

He turned to look at his sleeping best friend, then at captain Yamato who was softly snoring and then at Sakura. He wasn't sure if she was feigning sleep but she seemed realistically enough out of it.

_Sakura..._

_**Go to sleep, kid. Even you need to rest.**_

_But I wanna dream with open eyes and savor the moment of the adventure!_

_**You sound like a creep. Just admit you like her and go to sleep.**_

_I've always liked Sakura-chan, there's nothing to admit. Nothing new, anyways._

_**Well, the hell. If you drop out on her tomorrow, she'll beat the teeth out of you. It's her best friend out there, Naruto. Imagine if it was Sasuke. **_

_Okay, okay. Night, Kurama._

_**Night, kid.**_

Naruto dreamed of stars, grandmothers that knew how to row a boat, seagulls and green-eyed mermaids. And the terrible memory of Sasuke who nagged him to study the scrolls of basic fuinjutsu.


End file.
